Defining Empowerment
The three aspects of becoming conscious and empowered (part 1)
I had so much extremely positive feedback from my article on Rethinking Spirituality, and I wanted to do a follow up that dealt with defining empowerment.
Empowerment is another label like spirituality, and in fact, this blog deals specifically with empowerment. Ho`omana means empowerment, and it is the true and more accurate label for what I teach in my NLP trainings and in my Huna workshops.
So many use this word and throw it around, and yet to define it is not as easy for many. I remember one student coming up to me in Toronto last year asking which section deals with empowerment in our NLP training. In two weeks, I will be heading back to Toronto to teach another NLP Practitioner Training and I may begin the training by explaining that every section, every part, and every aspect of the training is about empowerment. And yet, without a clear definition, maybe students are not sure what to look for.
From one of my teachers, Uncle George Na`ope, I learned what it takes to connect with ho`omana or empowerment. So here is the definition of becoming conscious and empowered.
First, you need to be free and independent. The word in Hawaiian is Ku`oko`a. And this independence is not an extreme freedom or escape from things like the laws of your State, Provence or Country. I am referring to true freedom, which is freedom from fear and other negative emotions.
Interestingly, this concept of freedom from fear as well as the next two aspects, are a major part of our popular culture.
I just finished watching the movie Green Lantern with my two children (Ethan and Skylar). If you didn’t like the movie, that is ok; however, I must admit Green Lantern was my favorite superhero growing up! There was a theme in the movie, which was all the Green Lantern’s are FEARLESS! And then a human is picked to become a new Green Lantern. But immediately it is pointed out by others that he has fear.
The human Green Lantern quits because he feels that he has failed because he has fear; however, another human reminds him that we all have fear, and it is not about getting rid of your fear, it is about choosing courage over fear.
You see, all emotions are just energies, positive and negative emotions alike. And for anyone that has done research on energy, you know, this affects you first and foremost, all the way down to your cells. If you don’t understand this or want to see the scientific research, you need to read Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton. We are at a point historically, where we get that energy is real and that it does have a major influence in our experience.
Now, to be clear, I do teach techniques to release negative emotions that we have held on to, and one thing that I remind my students is that you still may encounter fear in the moment. Releasing fear from the past is easy and something we can all do. One of my students Dr. Patrick Scott has done research using our release technique Mental and Emotional Release® Therapy and found that not only does it work, it releases the negative emotion so thoroughly that no further relapse occurs!
Now that is past based negative emotions, or simply the baggage that we hold on to. So, how do you deal with fear in the moment? You choose the light or positive energy and you choose courage!
You see my life is not perfect, and I had to explain to my daughter Skylar (who is 5 right now) that we all have emotions, positive and negative. What do you do with them in the moment is the task. First, do you realize as I did, that having an emotion is good. Even if the emotion is bad. Every emotion gives you feedback about something in your life and something going on around you. However, if you let the negative emotion become your focus and direction, you go down a path that leads to more issues and problems, because that energy is now directing you.
So the first aspect of becoming empowered is freedom from fear, which has two parts. First, releasing past based fear so you are free from the baggage, and second having the ability to choose the energy you focus on. By doing the past release, you become lighter and clearer. Then, you have to learn to guide the mana (energy) as you experiencing it, and you mush learn to be able to call the courage and positive emotions to counterbalance any negative emotions.
This is the first of three parts to becoming empowered. There will be two follow up articles to this to help understand all three aspects.
Mahalo,
Dr. Matt